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Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore



Joined: 15 May 2003
Posts: 14152 | TRs | Pics
Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
PostMon Sep 20, 2010 9:47 am 
Of course, about 1/2 mile from the Park, thunder started rolling around. We retreated to a nice log, and had lunch before returning. After hearing a few more rolls of thunder on the way back, we felt better about not making it to Spray Park. Personally, I'm dumb enough that I would have ventured to at least the edge of the Park if solo, but that idea got vetoed. Though it's safer to have a smarter hiking partner, sometimes I wish I was with a dumb one. I enjoyed the forest of Silver Fir, Alaskan Yellow Cedar (cypress), Mountain Hemlock, lots of Western Yew, and an occasional giant Douglas-fir. Not a lot of understory - I expected to see some saphrophytes, but I did not. I'm not familar with most MRNP trails, and was happy to see Spray Falls. The Mowich Road is in good condition. The washboard isn't too bad; I've been on much worse. After the deluge, the ribs got mushy, so on the way out, the washboard was even less of an issue. A few pics; nothing stellar.
Creeklet
Creeklet
False Helibore skeleton
False Helibore skeleton
Spray Falls 2
Spray Falls 2
Spray Falls detail
Spray Falls detail
Twisty Alaskan cedars, Mountain Hemlock
Twisty Alaskan cedars, Mountain Hemlock
Yellow cedar snag wierdness. I have a theory on this (or hypothesis, whichever comes first)
Yellow cedar snag wierdness. I have a theory on this (or hypothesis, whichever comes first)

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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Yana
Hater



Joined: 04 Jun 2004
Posts: 4212 | TRs | Pics
Location: Out Hating
Yana
Hater
PostMon Sep 20, 2010 10:28 am 
Hey Quark, didn't you see the new sticky that says trip reports are a Spray free zone from now on? clown.gif
Quote:
Though it's safer to have a smarter hiking partner, sometimes I wish I was with a dumb one.
lol.gif lol.gif up.gif up.gif Are you going to share your theory about the tree? BTW, both theory and hypothesis work since in non scientific settings theory has the same meaning as hypothesis. If you want to be a science nerd, use hypothesis. If you don't, theorize away. dizzy.gif

PLAY SAFE! SKI ONLY IN CLOCKWISE DIRECTION! LET'S ALL HAVE FUN TOGETHER!
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Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore



Joined: 15 May 2003
Posts: 14152 | TRs | Pics
Quark
Niece of Alvy Moore
PostMon Sep 20, 2010 10:38 am 
I want to act like a big shot, so I'll use "hypothesis." My hypothesis is that the wood cells of this particular kind of tree and/or its bark (Alaska yellow cedar) are such that they break up differently when the tree dies and the snag remains perfectly balanced (straight up and down, not tipped) and does not fall. Once the wood cells dry out (or whatever happens when they die), the tree fractures in this way due to the weight change of the snag. If the tree were not balanced, if would be recruited to the forest floor, and would decay as a normally fallen tree would do. It's like columnar basalt, only different. I'll investigate - usually what I do is bother the land manager's biologist about stuff like this.

"...Other than that, the post was more or less accurate." Bernardo, NW Hikers' Bureau Chief of Reporting
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